Inaction of ISRO leadership in extinguishing spy case controversy remains a mystery, says former Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan

The Hindu

20-07-2025

The inaction of the leadership of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in nipping the infamous ISRO spy case of 1994 in the bud remains a mystery, former Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan said here on Sunday.
It remains a mystery why the ISRO leadership failed to publicly say that the space agency did not possess the technology that its scientists were accused of selling to Pakistan, Mr. Sreenivasan said after releasing Chaaram: Chaara Caseinte Pinnamburam, a book by journalist John Mundakkayam on the espionage controversy, here.
'Had they done so, the case would have turned into ashes immediately,' he said.
'Careful examination'
The ISRO spy case was something that should never have happened, D. Sasikumar, a former ISRO scientist who was one of the accused in the case but later acquitted, said. Mr. Sasikumar underscored the need for a careful examination as to how and why the ISRO case happened.
He also recalled his work on rocket development during the formative years of the space agency and the dark days when he was branded a spy and 'treated like a third-rate criminal.'
Former DGP Raman Srivastava, the IPS officer who was embroiled in the espionage controversy, received the first copy of the book from Mr. Sreenivasan.
Mr. Srivastava expressed his hope that the book will further contribute to putting to rest the allegations regarding the ISRO case. He said he has never made any public statements linked to the case in all these years, and did not intend to start now.
'Whatever I have suffered remains with me and whatever has happened is now in complete view,' he said.
'Never established'
Former DGP Jacob Punnoose, who presided, termed the espionage case baseless and nonsensical. It has never been established as to whether a crime was actually committed, he said. 'In every case, there should be a corpus delicti (body of the crime). In this case, strangely, at no point was it established as to what documents or secrets were stolen or smuggled out,' he said. Neither has any official of ISRO holding a responsible position formally lodged a complaint about secrets having been stolen, he said.
Achuthsankar S. Nair, former Professor, Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Kerala University, Jancy James, former Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Kerala and Mahatma Gandhi University, were among those present.